080 The Best Employer

The Best Employer According to this Daily Telegraph article, Christians in Britain (as I'm sure elsewhere around the globe) are finding it harder to keep their jobs and positions in society. Maybe they're beginning to get a little taste of what true believers have had to endure since the onset of Christendom, before their martyrs moved from the arenas into the grandstands in the 4th century. During the first 3 centuries of Christianity's existence, believers had very similar problems: each trade within the Roman empire had their own guild, and without being a member of such, one could not practice the trade. One membership requirement was the annual offering up of incense to a Pagan deity, and if a Christian refused to offer incense, he would be expelled from the guild and thus find himself unable to practice his craft. Perhaps one reason why God sometimes allows such difficulties to arise is for His children to put their trust in Him, instead of the System, and if we truly consider ourselves Christians, perhaps to consider doing the job that Christ gave each of His followers to do: "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). I know, that sounds outrageously fanatical. "You mean, we're all supposed to become missionaries, huh!" Well, I didn't say that. All I know is what Jesus said: "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon," (Matth.6:24), one of my favorites among my list of Bible Verses Most Christians Choose to Ignore. In the minds of present day Christians, God seems to be capable of everything but taking care of them. We profess the Gospel of "Professionalism" as if it were the professions and jobs that are eternal, and not God's Word, and as if there never was any such thing as an economic crisis. Well, let's talk again in a year from now. Eventually, folks, it's going to come to that: you're just going to have to trust the Lord! Mammon is a pretty fickle god, in whom I wouldn't put my trust any further than I can toss my Toyota. - Excuse me, my wife's Toyota. It doesn't really matter what you do, as long as you don't put your trust in Mammon or money, but "in the living God Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy" (1Tim.6:17). And if it really becomes difficult or impossible for you to do your job in whatever profession you've learned, perhaps you should consider doing the job God gave each of us to do, and do whatever you can to prove that you seek first the Kingdom of God by taking care of His flock, especially the lost sheep out there, who are not yet in the fold. There are so many ways to do that nowadays. Most of all by becoming living samples of a living faith in a living God, Who is not unable to care for us, even if we'll never get another job in this life! Take it from someone who hasn't had another employer for 29 years. God is the best!